Digging trip suggestions needed

Anto99

Hey everyone. Just a quick question. I'm looking to take a two or three day trip to the states to look for records. I know there likely won't be any crazy finds - grails I mean ??? but whatever. The hunt is the fun part right? So I've been to NY, know those spots. Any other cities I might consider? Chicago? Boston? Any tips would be great. Also thought NY would be good if I went back but concentrated on the boroughs instead. Not sure.

Anto99

I know about the city guide, but I'm looking for more of a suggestion in terms of the city as a whole. Record stores, cool shit etc...

LaserWolf

I'm in Portland and like to suggest it to people.
Seattle is less than 3 hours away, Vancouver BC is about the same distance north of Seattle.
Of course lots of small towns and minor cities to dig in in between.

Or south to San Francisco.

Those trips have lots to offer other than records.

If you want to spend more time digging and less time driving Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

Chicago is (or was) a great town for records.

The kind of records you are looking for could help you decide where to go.

Anto99

Thanks a lot. Very helpful. I'm looking for soul, funk, jazz and psyche by the way.

Anto99

Thanks a lot. Very helpful. I'm looking for soul, funk, jazz and psyche by the way.

Anto99

Thanks a lot. Very helpful. I'm looking for soul, funk, jazz and psyche by the way.

Anto99

Thanks a lot. Very helpful. I'm looking for soul, funk, jazz and psyche by the way.

Anto99

Thanks a lot. Very helpful. I'm looking for soul, funk, jazz and psyche by the way.

Anto99

Shit. No idea why the same thing posted 5 times! Trying to delete. No luck.

Jonny_Paycheck

sounds like you are looking for everything everyone else is looking for. heh.

a couple tips:

1 - consider what you want to do apart from digging. what kind of food do you like? do you (even) party? desire to see natural wonders, historical places, etc?

2 - narrow down what *kind* of records you're looking for, even within those four genres. you will turn up different stuff in NYC than down south, than you will find in Detroit, than you will find in CA, etc

3 - consider how deep of a mission you want. lots of places that are good to dig in are not chock full of "traditional" record stores, and you will have to do more legwork, potentially for greater reward.

Some places I'd visit if I were you:

Philly/Baltimore/DC/Richmond

Down South - Memphis, New Orleans, Nashville, etc

Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Ohio?

Portland/Seattle/Vancouver, as Dan recommended... or go south to SF and even LA.


very different areas with good things to recommend them all, depending on what you're into.


I would do any of these in a heartbeat if I had some free time and no particular objective in mind

LaserWolf

Jonny_Paycheck said:

I would do any of these in a heartbeat if I had some free time and no particular objective in mind

Anto99

Again, thanks for the in-depth answer. Very, very helpful. I'm from Toronto and haven't been to the states a whole lot. New York and LA basically. Chicago is supposed to be a great city though. Think I'll head there. Though my concern is the fact that I won't have a car. From what I've read, a lot of the shops are quite spread out. Not a prob I've had in other trips I've done, namely Montreal and NYC.

Jonny_Paycheck

if you want to get outside of the city at all you'll need a car. You can probably hit the local shops in Chicago without one, but I'll let one of the Chicago posters speak to the quality of their local shops.

With the exception of NYC I wouldn't trip anywhere in this country without access to a car. There's just too much you'll miss out on.

Unknown

No the trip isn't part of the fun. Unless, you want to take a bath in gasoline just to do something risky.

Gotta call ahead, follow up on leads, and ask for a description of the items.

Vegas is a fun place to visit and do some browsing.

MiddleDean

Check out the website recordshowsofamerica & try to plan your trip around a big show.
I'm gonna do texas & Nebraska in the fall. Looking 4ward to it

Unknown

MiddleDean said:

I'm gonna do texas & Nebraska in the fall.

Are you looking for records that you have never heard?

Unknown

stinkie said:

BearClaw said:

MiddleDean said:

I'm gonna do texas & Nebraska in the fall.

Are you looking for records that you have never heard?

Good question. It's important to break out of your comfort zone. I myself look for records that I never seen.

Even if the was all jibberish from outer space?

LaserWolf

Anto99 said:

Though my concern is the fact that I won't have a car. From what I've read, a lot of the shops are quite spread out. Not a prob I've had in other trips I've done, namely Montreal and NYC.

Train to Vancouver, Seattle, Portland.
Are all digable with out a car.
I recommend packing some mailers and mailing records home.
So much easier than carrying them.

Seattle Center Show is October 14th, Portland's Night Owl Record Show is October 20th.

billbradley

The Austin Record Convention is Oct. 26-28

http://austinrecords.com/

Anto99

Looking to go from September 14 -17th. Right now I'm torn between Chicago, NYC and San Fran. I know everything's been mined, but I'm still up for exploring a city in he states regardless. Been to NY twice but would go back if the digging opps are better than the other two cities.

Anto99

And sure, I'm always open to records I havent heard but at the end of the day, I'm just looking to make good finds. Kinda tired of the eBay game. I know I won't likely score any real heat but it's amazing how the value of certain records varies from city to city. The difference between Toronto and NYC was pretty big.

tripledouble

not sure why youre resigned to not finding heat
within the genres that you want, are you looking for
nice but not grail records (kool and the gang, soft machine, sylvers),
different records (regional records, private press joints, oddball, foreign stuff)
grails (the kinds you could find on ebay if you relaly wanted them)???

are you limited by time or money?
is the experience and adventure more important than the actual records you may find?

easy solution is hit SF, NYC, or CHI...go to a handful of specialty shops (good records for example). you will find grails. not cheap, but you will save LOTS of time. much more time to actually be outdoors among people in a new location.

more time intensive solution: go anywhere in the states, coinciding with record shows. rent a car or find a buddy to drive you and hit up a lot of thrift stores, antique malls, stores, dealers, flea markets, etc. You will undoubtedly find records and maybe/probably find a few grails. if you consider that your time is worth at the very least $10 an hour, the several heavy pieces you find for a dollar may end up having a lot of indirect costs. obviously, you will have more "Record related life experience" to tell grandchildren about, photograph, and post on facebook

what ive fallen back on in recent years is visit new places cause i want to visit those places. on a side note, i'll do some homework and may spend an afternoon (or two) looking for records. i usually come away with some interesting pieces while still being able to experience many different aspects of the area. good luck!

Anto99

That's a great way to look at it now that I think of it. I usually see most of a city but that happens in between looking for spots to dig. Montreal worked out this way -most spots were in clumps so I could map out a logical route, have a pint and make my way to the next spot on foot. Willing to drop some decent cash I guess. I'm well past the common record ish. No longer bother with those. Just really like the journey involved in finding new spots to dig with the chance of finding something great.

Big_Chan

NO records in Seattle.

fishmongerfunk

i was in chicago a couple of months ago and thought it was pretty decent on the jazz/soul jazz/funky tip. of course anything majorly grippable is not going to be cheap but you can load up on staples like prestige, blue notes, cadets, etc...for under ten bucks bucks a pop...

best of all, the food in that town is off the fucking chain.

i think there is a chicagoland record show every couple of months so if you go plan to be there for one of those.

have fun!

cuthbert151

BEAT SWAP MEET

http://beatswapmeet.com/

you will NOT be sorry.

Anto99

Sweet Jesus. You NEED to bring this to Toronto. Seriously. Looks incredible.

Danno3000

At risk of sounding like a troll or a downer--which is not my intention--hasn't the smartphone basically ruined digging for the unknown? I do very little digging these days, but I see this all the time at record shows: dude sees a record he doesn't recognise, dude googles/popsikes it, dude learns the market price and decides whether to purchase accordingly. It's the very rare record that has value to more than a tiny minority that's without any internet presence. As far as I can tell, digging these days seems to be more about whether the seller was lazy, busy, or indifferent and didn't do the due diligence on his/her stock.

Anto99

Yeah, you have a point. My best and only scores this summer were made in places where the owners simply didn't know their shit. Sound Foundation for $5. Axelrod Marchin' for $10. Nothing way out of the ordinary though. I guess when you shop in Toronto almost exclusively, a new city is fun just a change of scenery. New York for instance was cool just to take in the city and, being the record nerd I am, the record stores.

Flea markets in NY were cool but a lot of them were just pop-ups in basketball courts in the East Village. The rest of my time was spent in the usual spots. Wondering if Queens, Brooklyn, Harlem etc might be good to hit up?

Not on a mission here. Just looking to hit up a new place and check out some records. Not unknowns necessarily either. Just good shit.

Danno3000

Anto99 said:

Yeah, you have a point. My best and only scores this summer were made in places where the owners simply didn't know their shit. Sound Foundation for $5. Axelrod Marchin' for $10. Nothing way out of the ordinary though. I guess when you shop in Toronto almost exclusively, a new city is fun just a change of scenery. New York for instance was cool just to take in the city and, being the record nerd I am, the record stores.

Flea markets in NY were cool but a lot of them were just pop-ups in basketball courts in the East Village. The rest of my time was spent in the usual spots. Wondering if Queens, Brooklyn, Harlem etc might be good to hit up?

Not on a mission here. Just looking to hit up a new place and check out some records. Not unknowns necessarily either. Just good shit.

From a Toronto perspective, Chicago was killer. Lots of stuff you would never find here of real quality for very decent prices.

Dante

if you're "diggin' seriously" (i know, i know), you won't have time to check every record on your smartphone. that shit is for grippers at boutiques or whatever.

re your last question, i've heard fleas in queens turn up good (probably no grails, though) stuff constantly. as it has been said previously, you can get good deals if you stay out of good records and academy. but you can find good, clean, desirable records without much trouble in good records or academy.

also, i would also consider detroit. well, i'd just say fuck it and go to detroit, really.